Science Daily  October 3, 2022 Traditional solar thermophotovoltaics (STPVs) rely on an intermediate layer to tailor sunlight for better efficiencies. However, the thermodynamic efficiency limit of STPVs is still far lower than the Landsberg limit (93.3%), the ultimate efficiency limit for solar energy harvesting. Researchers at the University of Houston showed that the efficiency deficit is caused by the back emission of the intermediate layer towards the sun resulting from the reciprocity of the system. They proposed nonreciprocal solar thermophotovoltaics (NSTPV) that utilize an intermediate layer with nonreciprocal radiative properties. Such a nonreciprocal intermediate layer could substantially suppress its back […]